MONTECITO, Calif. -- Anxious family members awaited word on loved ones Wednesday as rescue crews searched for more than a dozen people missing after mudslides in Southern California destroyed an estimated 100 houses, swept away cars and left at least 17 victims dead.
"It's just waiting and not knowing, and the more I haven't heard from them -- we have to find them," said Kelly Weimer, whose elderly parents' home was wrecked by the torrent of mud, trees and boulders that flowed down a fire-scarred mountain and slammed into this coastal town in Santa Barbara County early Tuesday.
The storm that triggered the disaster had cleared out, giving way to sunny skies, as searchers worked carefully in a landscape strewn with hazards.
"We've gotten multiple reports of rescuers falling through manholes that were covered with mud, swimming pools that were covered up with mud," said Anthony Buzzerio, a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief. "The mud is acting like a candy shell on ice cream. It's crusty on top but soft underneath, so we're having to be very careful."
Buzzerio led a team of 14 firefighters and six dogs in the debris field, which was spread over 30 square miles. They used long-handled tools to search the muck.
Teams rescued three people Wednesday, but they also discovered two more bodies, raising the death count to 17, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. Thirteen people were missing.
A dozen people were hospitalized at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and four were in critical condition, Dr. Brett Wilson said.
"Most injuries we saw were related to fast-moving debris," Wilson said. "You can't even fathom what these poor patients went through to finally make their way to the emergency department."
The deluge destroyed 100 houses and damaged 300 others, Santa Barbara County authorities said. Eight commercial properties were destroyed and 20 damaged.
The cleanup was ongoing near where Weimer's missing parents, Jim and Alice Mitchell, lived. The couple, together for more than a half-century, didn't heed a voluntary evacuation warning and stayed home Monday to celebrate Jim Mitchell's 89th birthday. She hoped to find them in a shelter or hospital.
People in Montecito, a wealthy enclave of about 9,000 people northwest of Los Angeles, had counted themselves lucky last month after the biggest wildfire in California history spared the town. But it was the fire that led to the mudslide, by burning away vegetation.
Information for this article was contributed by John Antczak, Michael Balsamo, Brian Melley and Alina Hartounian of The Associated Press.
A Section on 01/11/2018